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Australian official to apologize for slur
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said Friday he will apologize to the United States team over racial slurs by Australian long jumper Jai Taurima. Coates said he would also talk to Taurima regarding his comments in a training camp in Brisbane that have upset several black American athletes. Taurima called the American long jumpers "dribblers" and said "you can pretty much knock out all the dark guys" in Sydney's cool conditions. Leading American high jumpers Melvin Lister and Savante Stringfellow are both black. Coates said the comments were against the team values set up by the Australian Olympic Committee. "I'll give the chef de mission of the U.S. team a ring and tell her that on behalf of our team I apologize," Coates told Australian Broadcasting Corp., radio. "If the comments are accurately reported they are at odds with the team values to which all our Olympians aspire. We should respect our competitors, there should be no racial jokes. "I intend to talk to Jai to remind him that this is the basis of which our team is going to compete." Lister, winner of the U.S. Olympic trials, and Stringfellow, the U.S. indoor champion and NCAA outdoor champion, were furious when told of Taurima's statements. "I can understand him having the confidence to beat us -- but to come at us racially," Lister said. "I want him to know I wasn't satisfied with the comments he made. All that can do is cause animosity between the U.S. and Australia."
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